Just a Day
by Misty's Double
Summary: It takes just a day for things to dramatically change between two friends separated for a long time. When they reunite for a break away from their normal lives, their relationship changes forever...


Author's Note: I must say that I really didn't think I'd ever see me do this again, but I've got back into Pokémon, and best of all, my writing muse has returned. In fact, it was like being a cow in a collision with a train. But without any more rambling, I would like to present my first fresh piece in a long time, and I really hope you all like this. I have _finally_ got my first piece of real romance written into a story, and I'm actually pleased with the result.  
Enough from me, here's Just A Day. Enjoy all, and make sure you let me know how the story was for you.

**_Just A Day_**  
_A Pokémon Fanfiction by Misty's Double_

"This was such a brilliant idea…" A girl cooed as she and two young men walked out of a small hotel. The taller of the two males, with extremely tanned features, a chiselled chin and small, narrow eyes, nodded, before replying to the red haired girl.

"Sure was. It's so nice to be back in Kanto, and even nicer to be in a part that will be teeming with beautiful Kanto girls… believe me on this one, there are some beautiful girls in the world, but nothing beats the Kanto beauties." He said, grinning. His two companions however, glanced at each other and sighed, before the shorter, but still relatively tall male replied to the earlier statements.

"Just think of it as a thank you from me, for being such good friends. We all deserve a nice break from it all, and with the prize money I earned from the Battle Frontier, well… I couldn't just spend it on Pokémon items!" The boy said, laughing slightly as he finished. The girl mocked surprise on her pale face.

"Ash, you _do_ surprise me!" She said, laughing while thinking to herself that the man- Ash, had certainly come on leaps and bounds since she travelled with him and the other male. Who, she also mentally noted, hadn't given up thinking pretty girls were the most important things in the world.

Ash had opened his mouth to respond, before closing it again, much to the girl's enjoyment that he couldn't think of a retort. They walked along a paved pedestrian area towards the coast beckoning ahead, the sun-drenched street fenced on two sides by tourist attractions and various shops selling small trinkets and souvenirs. For a few minutes they continued walking, silently moving through the other people towards the end of the road, when they managed to get through the busiest part of the town, and right ahead was an open, sparkling blue ocean. The girl sighed, taking in the view as she stood still.

"Wow… I always forget just how beautiful Cinnabar Island really is…" She said in awe.

"Misty, it's the sea. Haven't you just spent over a year back in Cerulean, right on the coast?" Ash remarked, slightly exasperated.

"Yes, but you have to understand that southern Kanto is an entirely different coastline, Ash." Misty responded, pulling at the straps of a bag slung over her right shoulder. "Anyway, come on… we've got some relaxing to do!" She said excitedly, walking briskly onto the promenade, before breaking into a trot when Ash dashed past her, launching himself over the railings and down the twelve feet onto the sandy shore below. The older male simply caught up with Misty, shook his head before taking the bag from her, and the two climbed through the railings, before jumping down also. Ash meanwhile, had run ahead and found a quiet part of the beach, a hundred or so metres away from the other two, and continued to slump down underneath a slanted palm tree, hauling off his trainers to remove the black sand from the shoes. After a few moments, Misty and the other male reached Ash following their leisurely walk along the sand. Throwing the bags down, and without a word, the other male looked around, before walking seemingly towards three empty sun loungers. Ash noticed as he looked up, before calling after him.

"Hey, Brock! What're you doing?"

"Getting these loungers, and I need your help! Come on!" Was the answer Ash received, leaving Misty to sit down on the sand in the shade of the tree as Ash dashed off to pull a third plastic seat over. She stretched her legs out, and surveyed the area- they were the only people in the area, and the view of the South Kanto Sea was uninterrupted ahead of her. Approximately thirty yards ahead of her position, the turquoise sea lapped gently at the black, volcanic sand the beach was made up of. A few rocks protruded from the water ahead of Misty, upon closer inspection it could be seen that a few species of water type Pokémon had made the rock their home, at least until the tide submerged the rock in a few hours' time. Sighing contently, she laid back and rested her head on the palms of her hands, closing her eyes and breathing deeply as she felt her muscles relax, the atmosphere having a calming effect on her. The relative silence was broken a few moments later however, as Ash leant over the unaware Misty, grinning and getting close to her face before…

"Wakey wakey, sleepy." Jumping, Misty scrambled to sit up, scowling at a grinning Ash.

"Ash!! Don't do that!" Misty said, sounding panicky. Ash howled with laughter, causing her to growl under her breath.

"Just be glad I haven't got that mallet anymore…" She mumbled, before looking away from the boy and back out to the ocean.

"Aww… cheer up Misty, you're away from the Gym for now, just kick back and relax." He said, sitting down on a sun lounger he'd moved next to Misty and stretching back.

"I _was_ relaxing until you came along…" She said, pulling the second sun lounger into position where she was laid, taking her shoes off before laying back. Brock rejoined them shortly, pulling his own sun lounger along, sheepishly sitting down without a word. Ash's eyes followed his body as he passed, and as Brock was sitting back dejectedly, Ash couldn't help but comment.

"What took you so long, Brock? Find a pretty girl, did you?"

"Pretty… no. Pretty brash, maybe. I didn't even get chance to use my charm…" Brock said, not looking at either of the other two, who were both staring at their friend now. Exchanging glances, Misty shrugged, before she and Ash simultaneously sunk back.

"…Hey, Mist. Don't you think it's weird not having our Pokémon around?" Ash asked following a brief moment's silence. Turning her head to look at Ash to her left, she tried to make eye contact, but realised he was looking upwards.

"Yeah, it's so weird not having Pikachu around… what's happening with Pikachu, anyway?" Misty inquired.

"Oh, Professor Oak and Mom are looking after Pikachu for me… Mom thought it might be an idea for me to have a break from my Pokémon for a while, and to simply spend some time with my friends… Oak on the other hand, felt it would be a great opportunity for Pikachu to make some friends with the Pokémon at his laboratory… either way, it's certainly different, without Pikachu… I'm missing the li'l guy…" He said, trailing off and looking over to Misty, his eyes meeting with hers. "What about you? Are you missing Azurill?" She stared at him for a brief moment, before snapping out of her brief trance, and with a nod, she replied.

"It's really odd without her, yeah… I feel so guilty leaving such a young Pokémon behind with my sisters…" She paused, adjusting her position in her seat so she could face Ash. "But another part of me feels she's going to be spoilt more than anything… they adore baby Pokémon." She said, smiling slightly. Ash nodded, before moving his head to stare up at the palm leaves sheltering them from the sun's glare.

"What about Togepi?"

"Togepi… the moment it evolved, I knew that I wasn't it's 'mummy' anymore… it was a fully fledged Pokémon, it didn't need me looking after it constantly… not to mention it was needed to protect the Mirage Kingdom Togepis…" she trailed off, causing Ash to look back at her, making sure she wasn't becoming tearful.

"I miss Togepi, but I'm okay now." She reassured Ash, having seen his concerned face. "I understood that it was time for it to have a full purpose to its life." Ash nodded, before glancing past Misty for a moment.

"…Hey, when did Brock disappear?" Turning around, Misty looked at where Brock had been minutes before, but now a shirt and t-shirt lay where he once was. Sitting up, the two glanced around the beach looking for their friend, but to no avail. Misty laughed.

"No change there, then… he'll be back when he's been rejected too many times." She said, Ash agreeing as he stared out to the ocean.

"You know… It's been so nice to be back in Kanto, and to have seen you a little more often than before… it's nearly like the old days." Ash said, smiling to himself. Misty glanced at him, smiling to herself before speaking up.

"I agree. It's been so long since it was the three of us on the road together…"

"I've missed you, Mist." Ash blurted out suddenly, turning to look at her as he spoke. Catching Misty off guard, she looked at him slightly surprised, before blushing slightly and nodding.

"Yeah, me too Ash… me too…" She said quietly.

"If only your sisters didn't win that cruise, you would have been able to travel around Hoenn with us… you could have seen all the new Pokémon out there, especially the water types; there's so many!" He said; his voice coming back to normal following a period where Misty noticed his voice had become slightly softer.

"You may be surprised to know this, but the water types are already here, Ash… well, at least some of them are already here." She sat up and moved to the end of her lounger, pointing out to the rock ahead of the two. "You see that rock over there? Well, when we first got here earlier, I thought I saw a really chubby looking Seel… but on closer inspection, it was a Spheal. It just goes to show that the species can migrate really easily when the conditions are right for them." She finished, Ash nodding, seeming to fully understand her.

"But still… you can't stop me resenting your sisters from taking away a travelling buddy." Ash said after a few seconds of contemplation. "May was a really good friend, Max too, but they weren't a touch on you."

"Aw, Ash… you're starting to get emotional!" Misty cooed, as if speaking to a baby, causing Ash to pout slightly as he continued to stare out to sea.

"I really mean it, Mist…" He said, sounding hurt. Misty smiled warmly, averting her glance slightly as Ash turned to look at her, his eyes shining slightly in the light.

'_Is he getting… tearful?'_ Her mind imploring no further, she spoke up.

"That means a lot, Ash… thanks." She said gratefully although slightly awkwardly, not really knowing what to say. The two then sat in silence, staring out to sea and snatching brief glances at each other when they didn't think the other was looking, before returning their focus to the ocean, glistening in the mid afternoon sun. The two made no effort to break the silence; instead of being an awkward silence it was more of an appreciative one as the two were grateful of each other's company, extremely pleased that they were with each other, even if it was for a couple of days. Something caught Ash's attention out in the sea, causing him to focus on that for a few seconds, but before Misty could work out what it was he was concentrating on, he had lost focus of it.

"That sure was a big school of something out there…" Ash commented, sitting back. "Did you see it?"

"No… they were gone by the time I noticed where you were looking… what were they, Goldeen?" Misty asked, turning to Ash again.

"I don't know… couldn't quite make them out, but they looked pink... Anyway, want to go for a swim? It's getting a bit boring up here…"

"Sounds like they might have been Luvdisc…" Misty finished, before realising he had in fact asked her a question. "Oh, and sure, why not?" she said, springing to her feet and instantly pulling off her yellow top and red under-vest to reveal a lemon yellow bikini top, before taking off the shorts to show off the bikini bottoms in the same colour. Letting her red hair down, Ash was surprised at how much longer it was since he had last seen her without her hair tied up, but then, as he reminded himself, that had been quite a while ago. While Misty folded her clothes and packed them into her bag, Ash stripped down, quickly putting on a pair of long black swimming shorts. Misty turned around with a blue beach towel in her hand, to see Ash ruffling his black hair slightly, and her gaze was instantly drawn to his torso. Blushing slightly, she composed herself quickly before he had chance to notice, before speaking up.

"Right, are you ready?" She grinned, hands on hips as Ash looked at her. For a brief moment, he froze, standing in silence, before speaking up, his voice emanating excitement.

"Am I? Race you to the water!" He called, before running off ahead, leaving Misty to sigh and follow him into the water. As she waded in to waist depth, she commented on how comfortable the warm water was.

"Yeah… it's so nice and relaxing…" Ash responded, before slowly dipping under the water, surfacing seconds later with his hair flopping down over his face, the water making his hair shine in the sun. "It's so clear, too." He remarked, looking through the water, easily able to see his feet through 4 feet of water. Misty nodded; seemingly more bothered about staring at Ash openly. After a few seconds of silence from Misty, Ash spoke up again.

"…Um, Misty, are you okay?"

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm fine…" She said, snapping out of a daydream, pulling her fingers through her loose hair. "So, what do you want to do now, Ashy?" Smiling, she waited for Ash's reaction to his most hated nickname, but surprisingly, he simply disregarded it.

"How about seeing what water Pokémon we can find hiding around those rocks you pointed out earlier?" Ash proposed, Misty nodding in agreement before the two waded out as far as they could, before having to swim the rest of the way. It was a comfortable swim; Misty always had been extremely confident in the water and so the depth of the water simply didn't faze her at all, while Ash was simply much fitter than he used to be, and it showed.

-----

Three hours later, the pair emerged from the water, tired from being in the water for so long. They walked over to the sun loungers, noticing that Brock had in fact returned and was laid, probably asleep on one of the loungers. As Misty walked up and picked up the beach towel she left on the end of her lounger, she noticed how Brock had a telltale red mark on his left cheek, and, tapping Ash on the shoulder, she pointed out the mark, causing Ash to laugh quietly.

"Haha, I guess he hasn't had a good afternoon… the good ol' 'Brock Charm' hasn't worked today." He said quietly as he and Misty dried themselves off.

"Does the 'Brock Charm' _ever_ work?" Misty commented, rubbing her hair a little. Ash shook his head vigorously, while grinning, causing Misty to stifle her laughter.

"Poor Brock… one day, he'll find somebody…" She sat down on the edge of her lounger. "So, what're we going to do? It's starting to get a little late…" At this, Ash was about to reply, before his stomach growled with hunger, causing him to blush in embarrassment.

"The stomach still does the talking, I see… well, we could grab a bite to eat; I guess that would be a good idea." She said, smiling at Ash's embarrassed face.

'_He's still cute when he's embarrassed…'_ Misty thought to herself, before the two decided they should wake Brock, but not after getting dressed again. Pulling their clothes on quickly, they then woke Brock as calmly as possible, before the three walked back to the hotel they had checked into earlier that afternoon. They walked back to their room in relative silence, it only being broken by Ash inquiring into what Brock had been up to, receiving a very blunt and short response. Brock then interrogated the two as to where they had disappeared to earlier that afternoon, which resulted in a lengthy discussion about the Pokémon they'd seen around what they discovered was in fact a small scale coral reef, teeming with Corsola among other Pokémon.

As they reached the hotel, the trio made their way to the room they were to share, simply to put their bags down, before they went back downstairs and into the canteen area for their dinner. Misty leading the way to a table within a bay window overlooking part of the waterfront, she took a seat, with Ash choosing to sit opposite her, leaving Brock to face the window. While Ash took a look at the menu showing what was on offer at the buffet, Misty kept on glancing over her menu to look at him, her eyes usually landing on his deep brown eyes, which constantly seemed to mesmerise her. Once or twice, Ash's glance met hers, and for a split second at a time, they would simply stare across the table, their eyes fixed on each other, before they quickly looked back down at their menus. After another episode of the staring, Ash spoke up, putting his menu down.

"Well, I know what I'm getting… Mist, do you want me to fetch whatever you want? Brock, are you gonna help?" He asked, receiving a smiling, nodding head from Misty.

"Surprise me." She said with regards to the food on offer, before Brock stood without a word, and walked with Ash over to the buffet. Once out of earshot, Brock spoke up.

"So, what were those eyes across the table about, hey?" He inquired innocently, catching Ash off guard.

"Eyes? I… don't know what you're talking about." He said, rubbing his neck and looking away quickly.

"Come on Ash, don't think I didn't notice… did something happen between you two this afternoon while I was gone, hmm?" Brock asked, a smile creeping slowly across his face.

"No!" Ash responded far quicker and louder than he meant to. Clearing his throat, he spoke up again. "No… we did exactly what we told you. Although…" He trailed off, about to say something aloud, but quickly deciding against it.

"Although what? What you were about to say?" Brock asked, looking at his younger friend inquisitively. Ash sighed; he knew he wouldn't be able to keep quiet now. As Ash looked down, lips firmly closed, Brock pushed for an answer from his younger companion. "Come on Ash, you know you can tell me."

"I was just going to say that although nothing happened, I kind of wish… that… something did…" Ash said, each word being spoken quicker and quieter than the previous, making Brock struggle to understand what was said.

"You 'kind of wish' what?"

"That something _did_ happen, okay?" Ash responded in exasperation. Picking up two plates at the start of the buffet, he went along, quickly picking food for himself and Misty, thinking about what she would like best. Unknown to Ash, Brock was behind him, grinning, before clearing his throat.

"Well, there's a simple answer to that…" Brock said aloud, receiving a glance from Ash as he swivelled on his heel to meet Brock's glance. Turning back with a confused look on his face, Ash carried on. Brock leant over speaking into Ash's ear.

"You've got to make it happen." He said finally, before taking a large spoonful of spaghetti and heaping it onto a plate for himself. Ash turned and looked at Brock quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

"You want something to happen… if it's not going to happen by itself, make it happen yourself."

"Hmm… yeah, I guess…" Ash replied unsurely. "I guess I should do something sooner rather than later, though… we're only here for three days."

"That's it, Ash. Although, I have a question." Brock started, as he lifted his tray and began walking back to their table, Ash following suit. "Do you know if she feels the same?" He- already fairly certain of the answer, simply wanted to see if Ash had noticed any telltale signs.

"I don't know, Brock… what do you think?" Obviously not. Brock looked at his friend.

"Find it out for yourself, Ash." He said simply.

"Right." Ash nodded, not wanting to talk any more on the subject as they walked back to the table. Placing the tray down, he passed Misty a plate of food, before putting his own plate at his table place, and sitting down, smiling warmly at Misty, who was smiling thankfully in return. As Brock sat down, the three began eating their dinner, Brock and Misty eating at a normal rate, even though they were relatively hungry, whereas Ash… Ash on the other hand, was clearing his plate in record time, much to Brock and Misty's embarrassment.

Twenty minutes, and two servings of food for Ash later, their stomachs were content, and the three happily sat, making small talk. Ash constantly spent as long as he could look at Misty without her knowing, while trying to think about the best course of action. Luckily, it seemed Brock had something in mind.

"So, what're we going to do this evening? Do you two have anything planned?" He asked the two, who looked at each other briefly.

"I don't know… you got any ideas, Ash?" Misty asked, turning to him again. Before he could answer, Brock spoke up.

"Well, I'm planning to meet up with a Pokémon Breeder friend, so I should get going to meet him. How about simply meeting back in our room later tonight… that is, if you two get up to anything." He said, rising from his seat. "Anyway, I'll catch you two later." With a wave, he walked off towards the exit, leaving Ash and Misty in silence.

"So…" Misty droned, glancing at Ash, and then out of the window after noticing he was looking at her.

"Want to go for a walk? I know how much you used to like evening walks along the seafront, Mist…" Ash asked somewhat abruptly. Misty, surprised at him remembering twice about some of her favourite things in one evening, nodded, smiling.

"Yeah… that would be nice. Shall we get going now, or a little later on?"

"Why don't we go now? There's not much else to do…" Ash responded, Misty nodding in reply, before she and Ash stood from their seats, and walked out of the canteen, continuing out of the hotel and down towards the beach. Although the sun was yet to begin setting, the string of lights following the shape of the promenade beside the seafront had been switched on, giving a pretty display of white light along the seafront, the lights reflected against the sea. Misty and Ash walked along the promenade initially, before the two decided that they'd prefer to walk along the dark sand. Slipping through the railings, Ash offered a hand to Misty to help her through the railings, and she gratefully took it, smiling politely as she climbed through the railings, before the two jumped down onto the soft dry sand together. Without a word, they walked closer to the waterline, before walking slowly back in the direction they came from, and back towards where they had been based earlier that day. They walked in silence for a while, simply content with being in each other's company and only each other's company. As their feet sunk into the sand step after step, Misty looked from Ash to the protruding rock they had swum to earlier on, and then back to Ash.

"Hey, Ash… do you want to swim back out there again?" She asked, nodding towards the rock. With a silent nod of his head, Ash removed his cap and again stripped down to the shorts he wore earlier that day, Misty doing the same, once again letting her still damp hair drop to her shoulders. After they had left their clothes and shoes in a position where the slowly incoming tide wouldn't get to them, the two walked cautiously out into the water, this time, due to the slowly diminishing light, the crystal clear water was slightly darker. As before, the two waded out until they had to swim, before taking a leisurely paced swim over to the rock from earlier. As they got half way to the rock, the pair stopped swimming and treaded water for a few moments, when Misty noticed something beneath the water. Without a word, she dived under to look at the thing, and upon further inspection she was greeted by a single pink kidney bean shaped fish Pokémon. Smiling to herself, she surfaced; gasping to return her air intake to normal, while getting a quizzical look from Ash.

"What was that about, Mist?"

"Oh, nothing… I just thought I saw something underwater, that's all," She replied, smiling. "Shall we carry on to the rock then? It's not that far now…" Without a response, Ash began to swim towards the rock, Misty following suit without hesitation. Within minutes, they had reached the rock, and were treading water beside it. The Pokémon inhabiting it earlier that day had since disappeared, Misty thinking that they would have gone to find food for themselves. She turned to Ash, who was pulling a few strands of his hair from his face, and was about to ask what they were to do next, when…

"Hey, something's nibbling at my foot!" Ash exclaimed, diving under to look at what seemed to attack his foot. Misty took a deep breath and went under, curious herself as to what was happening, and both were surprised to see a group of perhaps a dozen Luvdisc just swimming there, one or two occasionally coming closer to the two, nudging their legs. Looking at each other, Misty and Ash surfaced, both instantaneously gasping for breath, before Ash spoke up.

"What're those Luvdisc doing, just swimming there… don't they usually shy away from people?" Ash asked Misty, who was concentrating her gaze on the rippling sight of the Luvdisc, still below the surface, still occasionally nudging her. "Mist?"

"Oh, no… they can get quite friendly with some people…" She replied, looking at Ash.

"Why us, though? Do they want feeding or something, because we can't give them anything… perhaps we're in their territory…"

"No, Ash… they're not territorial Pokémon… don't you know about these?"

"What about them? I know they're Luvdisc, but…"

"They follow loving couples around dotingly, as they can feel the emot-" She stopped herself, realising that what she had just blurted out to Ash probably wasn't the best of things to say. Sighing, she pulled her wet hair back with her hands, while Ash stared open-mouthed… dumbfounded, even.

"Mist… what are you trying to say…" He asked, his voice soft as he looked longingly into her eyes. She tried to keep her eyes averted from his glance, but she felt herself being drawn into his gaze, and before she knew it, her eyes were locked onto his deep brown ones, while his eyes were lost within the stunning blue of Misty's.

"I… I wasn't trying to say anything…" She managed to stutter slightly, horrified at how suddenly, she had become extremely nervous. Trying to look anywhere but at Ash, she failed as he moved closer to her in the water.

'_No, no… not looking…'_ Misty thought to herself as she once again fought to keep her gaze from Ash, but this all stopped when suddenly, she felt something touch her. Looking down, she saw his hand on her forearm. Looking back up, she was greeted by a smiling Ash. She smiled weakly in response- she had since lost all strength in her body, and it felt like her muscles had melted and dissolved into the water. As she opened her mouth to answer him properly, Ash made a hushing noise, holding a finger up to her lips.

"I heard exactly what you said, Mist…" He said, pausing as he focused his slightly watery eyes onto Misty's again. "I just hope to the Pokégods that the theory behind Luvdisc is true…" Misty looked into his eyes, calming down and giving up with trying to keep her eyes from his. Instead, she resorted to smiling weakly again, and nodding her head.

"Me too… Why don't we find out for ourselves?" She asked, biting her lip nervously. Ash smiled, grateful that she was finally opening up again, and slowly leant in towards her, lightly placing a hand under her chin to make her look straight at him, before leaning further in, their soft lips touching for a brief kiss, before Ash pulled away, smiling.

"I think it might be better if we were out of the water… it wouldn't be a good idea for us to forget to keep treading water." Ash said, laughing slightly as he climbed onto the rock, holding a hand out for Misty to hold, as he helped her out of the water. They turned to face the now setting sun, the firey heat and light source now beginning to dip below the horizon. As the two dangled their legs over the edge of the rock into the water, Ash sidled up to Misty and wrapped an arm around her bare torso, pulling her close to his in an embrace, causing the two to smile broadly. Turning to Ash, Misty looked up into his eyes, before speaking in a quiet, soft tone.

"You know… I've been wanting this to happen for so long…" She said, before looking out to sea.

"It's just been so different since I came back from Hoenn… being so far from you really did make me think even more of you than I did, and now…" Ash trailed off as he noticed Misty was moving closer, not having time to think before she kissed him, wrapping an arm around his neck to keep him close. The two sat there, holding and kissing each other for a minute before they finally parted, both smiling broadly, before Ash hugged her closer again, Misty resting her head on his shoulder.

"I can finally see what Rudy meant, all those years ago back in the Orange Islands, when he said that I'm a lucky man… now I know that he was right." He said, sighing happily as he looked out to the setting sun towards Johto. Misty sighed contently, running her hand up and down Ash's arm as they sat in silence, observing the picturesque sunset ahead of them, while the Luvdisc below infrequently nibbled affectionately at the couple's toes.


End file.
